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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986290">Supernatural 3.02 review</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian'>yourlibrarian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Supernatural Reviews [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode Review, Episode: s03e02 The Kids Are Alright, Gen, Nonfiction</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:00:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Episode review as well as some thoughts about SPN demon powers.  Originally posted October 12, 2007.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Supernatural Reviews [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>March Meta Matters Challenge</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Supernatural 3.02 review</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wow, so many interesting issues raised by this episode. I really like the way this season is starting out, even if there are more than a few plotholes in the scripts.</p><p>One thing I couldn't help but notice about this episode is the relative lack of Sam&amp;Dean time. Even in the fight scene in the partially built house, they were largely separated. Also in the diner scene, Sam's excuse was really lacking. He and Dean impersonate people all the time and that's the best he could come up with? Of course that matches the pathetic excuse Dean gives for a case. In what way could a guy falling on a table saw catch his attention (outside of the gore factor)? And was he keeping tabs on Lisa during the last 8 years? Presumably she's living in a new house (and new state, if Dean left from Orlando for only 5 days). He had just picked up the paper, how would he make that connection?</p><p>So off he goes to see Lisa and I take it from the complete awkwardness at the door that he assumed she was (A) Single after 8 years and (B) Ready to fling herself on him at his mere appearance. Again, isn't Dean supposed to be velvety smooth?</p><p>Which leads to the next scene whose inclusion I am somewhat mystified by, the one where Lisa's friends decide to talk about Dean. I can only guess it was there because (A) It introduces the Realtor, although she gets a better moment when delivering the basket later on and (B) It emphasizes that, despite Lisa's seeming disinterest, she has equally fond memories of her time with Dean. Of course, one might also have gathered that from the fact that she remembers Dean (by name) at all, so the time spent on this exchange doesn't make a lot of sense to me.</p><p>This is especially the case given the various things that seem to be left unclear, which I'll get to in a bit. But to continue in order, we then get the fairly hilarious scenes of Dean seeing himself in a time warp. I have to question the likelihood of an 8 year old coming off so skeevy with girls (at least I hope that's pretty unlikely) or just talking like that in general, but I confess I know no 8 year old boys and maybe that behavior is not, in fact, unlikely. I'd also like to hope that Dean wasn't like that at 8 either, but I enjoyed JA's work in those scenes so much that I kind of let that pass.  The idea that all of Ben's traits are the result of genetics rather than nurture makes me roll my eyes. I figure Dean got virtually all of them from being raised by John, particularly the love of classic cars and classic rock. So really, Ben should be getting those things from Lisa, which, if she liked Dean's type, meant she probably shared a lot of those tastes as well.</p><p>I thought the scene with Lisa and the friend's mother was pretty well played by both with realistic reactions, and I was again amused by Dean's rather awkward but still pretty direct approach about Ben.</p><p>What confuses me is what happens next. Sam and Ruby have their scene and she drops the very interesting tidbit about Mary. Consider me as hooked as Sam. Dean then calls Sam from outside the party. Then the next scene we have is Sam as insurance agent off to investigate another death followed by Dean meeting Ben in the park.</p><p>I can only assume both these events took place the following day. For one thing Sam doesn't have the car and I assume he didn't research the deaths, set up an appointment and then head out on foot all that afternoon. I'd also assume Ben didn't leave his party to go to the park to play a video game. So I would guess that what we didn't see is Dean returning to the motel, maybe researching the deaths with Sam, mapping out a strategy and so on. I'm also guessing Sam said nothing to Dean about his unexpected sighting of Ruby.</p><p>I'm also guessing that Dean, already present as a friend of Lisa's at the party, was not a good choice to pretend to be an insurance agent so it was best to send Sam on that task, and that he was looking for Ben and Lisa when he finds him in the park. Perhaps he drops Sam off and Sam then meets him somewhere later or else he takes the car and then returns to the motel where Dean takes the car to go out, because Dean has the car at the park. (Of course, I also wonder how those suits and shirts don't get totally wrinkled in those duffles, but, details…)</p><p>Which brings us to the next scene where Ben is more childlike and Dean is, well, apparently John's son. What I thought was most interesting about that exchange was where Dean gets his parenting/mentoring scripts from. I guess that given John was teaching Dean to handle guns and protect Sam from supernatural creatures at Ben's age, so that a bully that same age would not be considered worth a second thought in terms of violent behavior. I'm guessing that the larger message of that scene was supposed to be (A) Ben needs a daddy because mothers don't know how to parent properly, and (B) Ben needs to be shown to be really liking Dean so that it will seem strange when he later wants him to go away.</p><p>So then we have Sam and Dean conferring on changelings, which Sam has presumably quickly researched due to the distinctive mark on the mother's neck. It's now nighttime and they head to Lisa's. Dean has presumably told Sam about Ben at some point because Sam knows him by name when Dean heads back to the car even though he won't lay eyes on Lisa until the end of the episode. Also, the credit card thing? That's the best he could come up with on short notice? How many women would have gone for that?</p><p>I also have no idea how Dean put together the dirt and the unfinished house with children being below ground. Since it appears to be dawn when they return Ben home, perhaps Sam and Dean spent the whole evening looking in other possible places in the housing development before they stumbled on the right one. All the kids lived in the development so it couldn't have taken that long to return them to their homes. (And speaking of which, what happened to the real realtor? She was let out of the cage but I guess she was later returned home?). On the other hand, I'd have to guess they spent a long time on explanations at all the kids homes because surely the other parents would be freaked out and wouldn't necessarily have seen their not-kids going poof, and would be a mite suspicious of two unknown men returning roughed-up kids to their homes in the middle of the night.</p><p>Also, is it just me or what is with Sam not being able to take anyone he fights? I mean, I know he's fighting supernatural entities, but given he's bigger than some trees you'd think just falling on them might be enough to give them pause. Just saying.</p><p>So anyway, Ben proves all brave and resourceful and then goes home and tries to forget it all by listening to music. But Lisa improbably assures Dean that Ben's not his kid. And yes, Dean is wonderfully disappointed by it all and we have some great moments there showing us that, yes, Dean is thinking about his death and about what his life has meant and would have liked to have followed the paths not taken. What I was somewhat less thrilled about is both Lisa's line about settling down after she became a mom and Dean deciding not to stay, mostly because I'm not fond of the idea of kids being sold as a fixit for aimless adults, nor that a kid being in the picture somehow changes the libido that had Dean driving across states to get laid.</p><p>On the other hand, I do think that Dean's decision fits in perfectly with his nature. Namely that he has come to feel responsible for Lisa and Ben, and the longer he stays the more likely he'll feel that way. Yet given his circumstances, developing those connections is not something he can afford to do. I thought JA played those scenes beautifully.</p><p>It's also clear that Dean doesn't seem to have much faith in Sam. Granted he doesn't want Sam to take any chances and if Sam listens to him there's no way Dean's making it past his year. However you'd think Dean would know Sam better than that. He has, after all, long experience with stubborn SOBs and surely you'd think he'd know Sam's one of them (not to mention Sam's cleverness should count for something).</p><p>While I would have been satisfied with the show ending with the "Oh, Dean!"™ moment of him leaving, there was still more to come. However, I had still more problems with these scenes.</p><p>I can only assume that Ruby gave Sam the names of his mother's various friends and contacts because how would Sam know any of them? If they'd been in contact long after her death, he'd already know they were dead. Besides if John had "disappeared" from Lawrence not long after Mary's death, presumably none of them had stayed in contact. Dean mentioned they didn't even know the uncle who had provided Mary's gravestone. And it certainly doesn't seem like Sam mentioned Ruby's visit or her information to Dean at all, and if he'd suddenly started asking about all his mother's contacts Dean would have been a mite suspicious (assuming he knew any more than Sam did to start with). So how would Sam know any of these people were actually his mother's friends, her doctor, etc.? Couldn't this just be part of her stringing him along?</p><p>Also, timing wise, I can only assume Dean had a long walk back to the motel, because he wasn't at Lisa's house long. I'd at first assumed Sam stayed in the car since we didn't hear it drive off. But Sam must have left or how would he have the time to make all those calls? Earlier in the episode?</p><p>Logistics aside, it was certainly an interesting reveal that Ruby's a demon, and I'm curious to see what her angle is. I'm also really pleased to see a potential solution to Dean's deal that I've yet to see before. The idea that another demon might, for their own reasons, get Dean out of his bargain is intriguing. Is it possible that there are demon factions, some aligned with the YED, some not, and she's still on team YED?</p><p>As I commented to someone else's review, Sam seems to be quite the demon magnet. First Meg, now Ruby seem to be quite taken with him. Of course, Meg was originally on some sort of mission, but she could also still be around (presumably) since being exorcised from Sam. And she said once before that her actions had nothing to do with the "master plan" (even before the YED died). Is this her yet again? (Which begs the question, how does Meg keep getting out of hell and everyone else had to wait for the gate to open?)</p><p>It also seems that Sam wrestling with Pride would seem to be no accident in episode 1. Ruby certainly seemed to be appealing to it -- "It's all about you"? Which has to be what Sam has always feared, but seeing yourself as the center of things whether you want to be or not, could fall into that. Which makes me wonder again if she isn't just leading him down a path he's predisposed to follow in a way he wouldn't so easily follow Wrath?</p><p>(As an aside, that Dean was engaged with Lust seemed to be a choice by default, and I assume it was Wrath that had possessed Isaac's corpse, which was keeping Tamara busy. So why would Bobby get Sloth? Does it have something to do with how he won't come through for Sam &amp; Dean in some critical way?)</p><p>What also appeals to me? The idea that S3 may be the temptation and downfall of Sam Winchester. That's a seasonal arc that really grabs me. Would be interesting to see if he ends up falling prey to one of the seven sins after another, wouldn't it? Next week appears it could be Greed.</p><p>Anyway I quite like the job Katie Cassidy is doing so far, and I also liked the major plot points that got brought out in this episode (not to mention some wonderful Dean moments). So acting-wise and arcwise I quite liked TKAA. In terms of episode-plotting, er, it has problems.</p><p>Speaking of Ruby, I was pondering some issues about demon powers. For starters, the whole issue of demon blood which is so critical to the discussion of Sam as the half-blood prince. How can a creature which appears to be made of sooty air have blood? Both in the pilot and in Salvation, the demon appears to coalesce into human form but it isn't actually possessing a human body. This becomes apparent when Sam shoots it and it simply dissipates, it doesn't, as in AHBL2, vacate a human body. Yet when it coalesces one can see its eyes and apparently it can manifest blood. In which case why possess a body at all? One would think this would make it more vulnerable.  Maybe it's just that maintaining that form was too taxing for the YED, but you'd think fighting the human host would be draining too. I'm thinking maybe that's one reason John managed to get the drop on him in the S1 finale, because he was already keeping Dean and Sam pinned and having to fight the host too was taxing.  I'm also curious about other things such as what is the demons' energy source (they must have one) and what is it about Ruby's knife that kills them? Because it seems like they were killed, not just exorcised in M7.</p><p>Perhaps the demons coalesce internally in the bodies, allowing them to remain whole after injury or even death. And presumably the same virus in Croatoan was present in the nursery scenes. While it seemed like Sam was immune I thought he'd be immune to demon possession but clearly that's not the case. Not only was he possessed in BUaBS but the YED was able to possess the Reaper in IMToD who also didn't have physical form. So clearly possession and infection are separate things.</p><p>The other issue was the matter of powers. The YED kids manifested various abilities, and so far it seems that in demon possession cases, the possessed also share these abilities. The most obvious seems to be superstrength, and telekinesis (slamming victims into walls and pinning them there). Maybe the visions are a form of telepathy in humans but are standard demon communication mode (after all, they usually don't have form and shape so they must communicate some other way). So far we haven't seen the demons use electrical power (like Lily). Maybe that's still to come? Because if the YED kids were given powers as a result of demon blood you'd think that demons themselves would have that power. Of course if a demon could kill with a touch or control with its voice, it would be pretty hard to fight (since it couldn't just be killed) so maybe that's the simple reason one hasn't appeared yet.</p><p>I'm thinking that maybe what's coming isn't a human war but a demon-demon war with humans used by both sides. Perhaps Sam's immunity was important because he couldn't be infected (and thus controlled) by the other side? Pretty important if he's going to be your human leader.</p>
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